0:00 Our heavenly father, we just want you to show us your heart this morning. Speak to us like we sing in Jesus name. Amen. All right. So, I want to start um by 0:17 turning the clicker on. And now I want to start again by telling a story. It's the Oen mode, right? Bear with me. 0:48 That's the story. All right. So, here's the story. And it was 45 years ago. It was 1980. I was 5 years old. And it was my very first day of school ever. Like we didn't have any Head Start or preK or anything. The way it worked in Oklahoma is after 1:07 you turned five, if the school year started, you were in kindergarten. So it was my first day of kindergarten. So I was 5 years old. Who's 5 years old? Right. Yeah. In the story, me. Who's five years old today? We have any five-year-olds? How old's 1:22 Micah? He's six. Noah's five. Okay. So, imagine I'm one year younger than than than Micah. You got it? Like, I'm young and and I I'm about to enter this world. I grew up, you know, I was at home and then one day I go to this place called school and I 1:41 get to experience what school is like. I'd heard about this thing, but I never got to experience it. And so, you know, you're thinking school is all about learning, right? It's all about learning. Have you? >> All right. I'm not getting a lot of 1:53 feedback from you guys. Trying to read your face. I'm like, "Have you ever been to school? Has anybody ever been to school?" Because I'm not judging it by your face. Okay. So, all right. A little more reaction that time. Okay. So, first 2:05 day of school ever, and I discovered this thing. I couldn't find a picture of the actual metal death trap that we had uh grow in the 1980s, but this is as close as I could find online. So, imagine the one I was on uh was much 2:20 bigger, right? It could actually hold probably 20 people. It didn't have those wooden seats. Like it was just this big thing, big margo round is what we called it. And you would push it or we a bunch of us would be all the way around it and 2:32 we would push it and we would get going fast and then we would jump on it and just enjoy the centrifugal force or centrial force, I don't remember which one, that would pull you out and it was wonderful. And I was like, so this is 2:42 school. This is what I heard about. I could do this from K through 12. This is all right. So I discovered that we didn't have this like where my home there wasn't fun things like this in the yard you know like a merrygoround and so 2:55 this is so awesome right 5 years old discovering this you with me you have a picture of the the joy in my eyes and in my life. Well I wasn't the only one at school that day. There were other kids at school including a guy named Cody. 3:14 Now Cody grew up on a ranch. Cody had horses and cows and Cody could rope. Do you know what I mean by roping? Well, you get you kind of get a picture of it here, right? So, this is cattle roping. So, Cody, I'm tell he's 5 years old. I'm 3:29 not making this up. I would not believe this story if I hadn't lived it. But Cody was also 5 years old and also experienced in the first day of kindergarten. Apparently, in Oklahoma, you can bring your rope to school. So 3:41 Cody was very good at roping and so you know he could ride a horse and he could throw the rope and he could land it so much so that you could catch the small calf that's running away from you. Well apparently Cody thought it would be a 3:56 good idea or a challenge to take his rope. He did not have a horse there that day. He could have I guess in Oklahoma he had a rope. He thought it would be a good idea to try to rope something that was moving. Guess who that was? 4:13 Right. So, Cody takes the rope. I I didn't see this. Remember, I have no idea what's going on. I'm telling you what I now know. I'm I'm I'm still in bliss land, right? Like enjoying the force, enjoying the ride. Next thing I 4:25 know, there is a rope around my neck. This guy became our starting high school quarterback. If he had the accuracy of throwing a football the way he had throwing a rope at 5 years old, he would be, you know, a professional football 4:36 player. He didn't. But anyway, just like with a rope, landed it first try, a rope around the neck. Next thing I know, there's a rope around my neck, you know, like and and it catches on the merrygoround and is dragging me along in 4:49 a circle. I'm now being dragged around in a circle by my neck. What do you think I did? Cried like anything, right? I'm suddenly in terror now. I went from this this wonderful excitement, wonderful journey to now I'm being brothers and sister, I 5:05 don't know if you've ever had a rope around your neck and been pulled by it in a circle, but it is terrifying. And so I went from being, you know, full of joy to being full of terror and and luckily some some 5-year-olds that were 5:19 very responsive to what's going on stopped the machine and I, you know, I got up still whailing and crying like anything. And then something happens that changes changes my view. So Cody and Micah walk up and Micah says, "Hey 5:35 Josh, do you want some gum?" And suddenly something happened. The tears dried up and we forgot all about the incident. And the only one that remembers the story to the day is me. Nobody else remembers this first day of kindergarten except me. Probably because 5:51 they didn't have the rope around their neck and they weren't drugging his circle by it. But I'm the only one. Suddenly like I didn't care about the death I almost died because Micah offered me a stick of gum. Now in those 6:04 days, you know, a stick of gum is like, you know, cash, $100 bill, you know, like you're going to give me some of your gum. They only came five to a pack and you're going to give me one, man. If you have to spit it out and every time 6:15 you go to class, you're not going to make it through the day and you're offering me one. There was a a kindness that he showed me that changed my world that day. And so I was able I made it through school. You know, the terror 6:27 wasn't that bad because somebody was kind to me. And that's the truth. Like it suddenly went away. I still remember the story, but you know, it wasn't as bad uh as it as it could have been, but somebody showed me kindness. So I want 6:41 to talk about kindness uh this morning. Uh I think it's needed. I think in the world around us, there's not a lot of it. You know, just in being around people, when I go places, people are very angry and very disturbed and 6:55 they're in a hurry and they're going somewhere. They don't know where they're going and I just don't see as much kindness as I used to. So, I see that even business models, you know, there are restaurants that are very successful. There's one particular 7:08 that's very successful and really what distinguishes them is they're very kind to their customers and to their employees. And there's something about kindness that will get you things. You know, it's a very powerful tool uh to 7:20 get you what you want. Be kind to somebody. Apparently, it kept Micah and Cody out of trouble when I went to the teacher and explained to them what had just happened. So, now that I think about it, I think Micah and Cody had an 7:32 alterative motive for offering that gum. It was a bribe and I didn't go tell the teacher. But for me, it was just kindness. And so, you know, kindness can get you things. It's a good thing even in the world. But I think, you know, 7:45 that's not the motivation that I'm telling you. Like, hey, go be kind to people so that you can get stuff from them, you know, and it's not a I don't want you to come away with this. In fact, I would tell you just to forget 7:54 it. We could stop the message right now and you would get a message that maybe you'd hear in the workplace or in kindergarten where, you know, the teacher or whoever's leading just says, "Hey, you guys need to be nicer to each 8:04 other." And there's nobody in this world that I know of that would oppose that and say, "No, that we reject your message. We think meanness is a better way." Everybody agrees, right? So, this isn't necessarily hitting a nerve right 8:17 now, right? You're like, because you're like, I agree with this. You know, a cross is a little bit harder to take up every day, but to be kind. How hard is that? I think I can do that. So, let's just pray and we'll go out from here, 8:29 and we'll come up with some kind things we can do for people, and we'll see how long that lasts, right? But I want to go a little deeper with it. Uh I want to look at kindness uh and kind of give you a different motivation for it. And 8:41 that's my goal this morning. So, you don't have to turn there. I don't have time to take you through it. I thought about it. I'll just read you all of Romans 1 and then read you all of Romans 2. But I'm not going to do that. I'm going 8:53 to summarize it and then if you want to go deeper later, then you go read Romans 1 and you test it and you see if I'm right or if you see you you come to the same conclusion that I did when I read Romans 1. And I decided to chart it in a 9:05 graph. This is what I see in Romans 1. And again it's not don't worry about the units but you know the vertical part goes from zero to 100. And like we we heard about today one of the boys mentioned this like you know 100 is where you are absolutely thankful 9:24 and absolutely honoring God. You acknowledge God in your life. 100 is the top of the vertical line. And on the the horizontal graph we go from zero to 100. Sin and idolatry. And there's something that's linear. Again, maybe not perfectly, you know, 9:40 maybe it's exponential or whatever. Don't don't miss my point. But I would say there's a downward slope that occurs when you read Romans. And uh you know, just in my lifetime, in my generation, I've seen this downward slope. And if I 9:57 want to know what's going on in the world, like why, you know, why growing up in school, you know, was it just understood that kindness is a way of life and that uh you know, the you're taught the golden rule and you're you 10:08 know the 23rd Psalm. Everybody in my school, everybody knows that when I'm when I'm in 5 years old and today barely anybody knows that. What happened? What changed? Well, I can get some wisdom and go to Romans 1 and I'll know 10:23 exactly what happened. that people quit honoring God. People quit thanking God. People quit acknowledging God. They started worshiping created things instead of the creator of things. And it leads to a downward slope and sin 10:40 starts to increase in your life. [snorts] And I trust that to some degree you've experienced this where you're like, "What is going on with me?" You're doing stuff you never thought you would do. There's attitudes in your heart you 10:52 never thought you would have. What happened? Well, it's very simple. The world quit honoring God, quit giving him praise and glory, stopped acknowledging him, start stopped focusing on h him, and suddenly it's just downward. And it's true. 11:11 And that's an easy way to diagnose what's going on in the world. and test it yourself and tell me if you come to the same conclusion that when people quit honoring God, their spiritual life, their physical life, everything about 11:21 them just is given over and they're doing all kinds of sins that we had never even heard of because he's not the focus. So keep this graph in mind. But if you come to chapter 2, you find like that's right, Lord. You know, everything you said is true in 11:38 chapter one. I wholeheartedly agree with you. That's the problem with everybody outside of this church. But we're different. We're not like the world, you know. We We are kind. We are We do honor you. We do. When we were singing, 11:52 our hearts were so focused on you this morning that we're not like everybody out there. We honor you. We acknowledge you. We don't worship created things. We worship the creator. We worship you. We're not like them. But what chapter 2 12:04 does, it goes a little bit deeper. If you remember son's message from last week, he had marrow in the message. He he had some bones that were cut up and you could see the marrow inside. This is also marrow. I decided to cook mine and 12:19 add a salad and some sea salt because I I Googled it and apparently it's a delicacy because it has a rich buttery flavor and it's a lot of c cultures really like marrow, right? So I dressed mine up for you. That way you didn't 12:32 have to have the disgusting raw bone marrow that that sun share. All right. Nobody is appreciating that I put a side salad and sea salt on my marrow. Do you guys like marrow? Anybody ever eaten a marrow? Okay, one guy. Okay, a few guys 12:46 have eaten marrow. Thank you. Right. But the marrow goes deeper in us. It's not going to settle for like, yeah, Romans 1, that's what happens. It says, what's going on with you? And when you read chapter 2, it's pointing the finger at 13:00 you and it's saying, what about your marrow? How often do you give God thanks for for things? How often do you acknowledge him and honor him? How often do you do it? Where are you on that slope? Are you in the middle? Are you 100% thanks? Are you 0% sin? Are 13:20 you somewhere down here? Where are you on that slope? It it turns and it points at you and it says, "Don't judge anybody else. What about you? Where are you when it comes to God? Where's your heart? Where's your marrow?" 13:33 And in the middle of one and two, you get this verse. And if you if you don't remember anything else I shared this morning, I want you to remember this verse. I hope you already know it. I hope you carry it in your hearts. I hope it's very dear to 13:46 you. But this is the this is the key verse this morning. And it says before I even start, one of the things that struck me with our memory verse is the word lightly. Do you remember? Did you already forget the memory verse? Do you regard lightly 14:02 the discipline of the Lord? And here we get that word lightly. And I feel like I didn't plan this. I didn't I wasn't thinking about the memory verse when this lesson was coming to heart. But I wonder if the Lord is saying Austin CFC, 14:13 are you taking the things that I'm doing lightly? Are you taking me lightly? And so I see that word in it. Ask a question. It's just a question and it's a deep penetrating question. Right? Do you take lightly these three 14:28 attributes of God? There's a richness about him. Right? his kindness. Remember, that's what we're going to talk about this morning. His tolerance and his patience. Do you take that lightly or do you deserve it? You're a good person. You're 14:45 not like your unconverted relatives. You are far better, right? You're much better than the, you know, the filth in the world. You're different. You're better. But this says that even the kindness, notice it says three things. It says kindness, 15:02 tolerance, and patience. Do you recognize that's all from God, but especially kindness? Do you know that it was the kindness of God that led you to repentance? Did you think you just woke up and figured it all out? Oh yes, I'm a sinner. I need a savior 15:19 and my Jesus died on a cross for me. Oh, what light I have. I'm very clever, very smart. I'm not like other people. This verse asks a question that knows the answer if you're honest. How did you come to repentance? Brothers and 15:36 sisters, I get my testimony from this. I go, "Well, God was kind." What is your testimony, Josh? Very simple. God was kind and he led me to repentance. He grabbed my hand and he said, "Josh, I want you to see these things. I want you to meet this person 15:52 and I want you to think about this and I want to I want you to see this and I want you to get some wisdom here and I want you to see where you are and he gra he walked me there. He led me there and the question's asking like hey as 16:06 we're going looking at the world around us what is your attitude Josh? Are you better or was I kind? You were kind. I'd ask you to hold on to this for the rest of this week. You know, think about 16:23 it, meditate on it, your own testimony. You know, when you're asked to give a testimony, you know, what parts do you focus on? [snorts] You know, the the the you know, you when we when we share our stories a lot, we we know the parts that would really have 16:38 people glued to our story, you know, but are those the important parts? Or is the most important part that God was kind? And let me just tell you about how kind he was. That is my testimony. So kindness begins with God. And there's a 16:53 kindness in the world. I told you everybody loves kindness. Everybody agrees with kindness. But do they start with God? And say, if we're going to talk about kindness, I need to tell you who really is kind. I want to tell you 17:05 where I learned kindness or where I first receive kindness. It's from God himself. And so I can't, you know, you don't have a to-do list from the message this morning, brothers and sisters. If you're if you have a to-do list, it's to 17:16 go talk to the one who's kind to you. and ask him how you can be kind. How do you do this? And we're looking at his word this morning to try to try to learn some of that or learn some of him so that we know how we're supposed to be. 17:29 And so you can't just go do something. In fact, if we look at the fruits of the spirit, what is one of the fruits? Kindness. In other words, if there's a, you know, if it's like, you know what, I'm going to do something for somebody. If it 17:47 originates with you and you're like, "Hey, I know what would be nice to do. I'm going to go do this." If it doesn't originate with the Holy Spirit, if it's not something that's in fellowship with him, then it's no different than the, 17:58 you know, walking an old lady across the street or just something you came up with, right? You know, have do do we spend time in fellowship with him and go, "What do you think? What what should I do? Show me how to be kind. Help me to 18:11 be kind. Let's do it together." because it's not natural to me. Like I I don't know what goes on inside of you, what goes inside of your hearts. But you know, in my flesh, I can tell you kindness does not originate. Selfishness 18:26 does, not kindness. So we go to the source and we say, "I need your help. I'm gripped this morning. I want to be more kind, like genuinely kind, but I'm finding a lack. Help me to be kind. Really kind." And so we see that we need the Holy Spirit's 18:43 help that he will produce it in us like a like a a vine, a branch in a vine. It will flow from him to us and it will become natural. It will change us in the inside. It won't just be us having what can I do that will make me look kind and 18:58 impress the people around me. It'll be something that changes and go I want to do this. I need to do this. I love to do this. Okay. So where do we start? because I'm I'm excited about that, you know, when I when I prepare these 19:13 messages, you know, and they're for me, too. You know, I want to I want to be more kind, but where do I start? And where where where should start where where should my kindness originate? And I think it should always originate at 19:26 home. It should always originate at home. Are you kind at home? Let's look at a scripture. Now, I was thinking about these verses and imagine I I put all these things in a box. If you're not familiar with the passage, you will be after I share. I think 19:43 you're all familiar with this passage. If I put all these items in a box and I gave you the box, I said, "Okay, now I want you to put them in order. I want you to tell me which comes first and then which one builds on top of the 19:54 last one and which one builds on top of that and which one builds on top of that." I'm I'm going to be honest with you. I think I would get it wrong. But when Peter says, "Hey, I want you to start with faith and then I want you to 20:06 build upon your faith." And he says something interesting. I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but I I think you know uh the first Peter uh the first chapter of second Peter, but it says that God has given us magnificent promises, precious promises. 20:23 And one of those promises or or what they culminate in is that we can partake of his nature. Remember, it was God's kindness that led us to repentance. And then we get a promise in scripture that says, "You can have the same nature 20:39 as God." That is a wonderful promise. But then he gives us things that we need to grow in and we need to build upon. And he says, "With all diligence," and I paraphrase it and I say, "With everything you have, do these steps." Right? Because that's 20:58 what scripture says. with all diligence. Brothers are supposed to be diligent about this. Be serious about it. In other words, don't take it lightly. Be diligent to grow in these things because we're stirred. We want kindness. 21:11 How do I get there? Well, it says, "Okay, you have faith and you need to add moral excellence to your faith." In other words, if you, you know, you say, "I believe in God. I trust in Jesus." Right? Okay. So, what does your 21:24 character look like? What is that faith producing? That's the honest test. That's the very first thing he said. He says, "Add to your faith, moral excellence, right? Different translations say it a different way, but it's all saying the same thing." There's 21:37 kind of a ladder you build on going [snorts] up. So once we have faith, we need to add moral excellence to it. And then to that, we need knowledge. And I was thinking about this. It's not biblical knowledge. It's not just like, 21:49 okay, I know I know God created the earth in six days and he rested on the seventh day. It's not known. It's not that type of knowledge. It's an intimate knowledge. And it's very interesting. I would have thought I maybe we need to 21:59 start with knowledge. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And so if people read their Bibles, they'll have faith. And I would have got the order. I would have already messed up the order. But it's saying if you trust God and you 22:13 let him work on your character, then on top of that, there will be a knowledge of him. And it's true. I believe I've experienced a little bit of that as my character has changed. And then I go back and study the scriptures. It's like 22:27 I I know more of him. I understand him a little better now as he's working in me and showing me things in myself. So as my as the moral excellence is building now, the knowledge of him builds. And then on top of that, self-control. 22:41 Very interesting that order, isn't it? Self-control is also a fruit of the Holy Spirit. So now I know God, but I find a lack of discipline in my life. I know I should make my bed in the morning, but sometimes I just don't do it. Not 22:58 necessarily a lack of time, just a lack of self-control, lack of discipline. But even that, once you get disciplined, you have to keep on perseverance. You add perseverance to your self-control. Would anybody have gotten the order right so 23:12 far? Maybe if you have that passage memorized, but God says you need perseverance. It's great that you're excited about this message. It's great that you've been stirred up and you want to be more kind. That's fantastic. But can you keep doing 23:28 that? Can you make that your way of life? Can you keep going? Or do you kind of you do it for a season, then you kind of backslide away from it, get kind of more self-focused after over time? Can you persevere? Because yes, you need to be disciplined, 23:43 but then you need to keep going on top of that. And then to perseverance, godliness. Okay, now we're getting to godliness, you know, so that your character becomes more like him. You're becoming pure, like he's pure. Your mind is being set 23:59 on things above and not on things of earth. And then even after godliness, brotherly kindness. Oh, that's the word. That's where I was going. You guys knew it was all about kindness. And then the brotherly kindness, love. And love is 24:14 the pinnacle. And we know this from many scriptures that love is the ultimate. That's what we're striving for. The love of God we want to have manifest in us. That's our goal always persistently. We love God and we love others because 24:31 of our maturing in the faith beginning with faith. But it's very interesting where that uh brotherly kindness comes after godliness. I think son mentioned this in his message after godliness before love. Right before love and the 24:45 remember I'm still building on my first point of where it starts. I said it starts at home. And this is why I say it starts at home. Why not just kindness? Why does it have to be brotherly kindness? And I think the Lord is saying because 24:59 it needs to start in your family or who those who you're closest to. And so that's a great test. There's a great test for me. If I go up to my wife, I would say I'm closest to my wife and I say, "Amber, am I kind?" Now, you can do it if you want to, but 25:19 I, you know, like I'm just suggesting it. Think of the person that knows you better than anybody that you're the closest to. Would you ever think of going up to them and saying, "Give me an honest answer. Tell me the truth. Am I 25:32 kind?" And they say, "Yeah, sometimes." Sometimes you're kind. You've done some kind things on occasion. You know, that's something I want I want to grow at. You know, maybe I got maybe I got to go through the other steps 25:48 first. But to be truly kind and have that brotherly kindness, like I want it to be real. But I see it starts around you. There's something in us, whether you're in India or you're in Texas. There's something about us that is more 26:02 concerned with what strangers think than what our own family thinks. And we act differently. It's amazing. We act differently when we're out in public. And these strangers are going to think things of us. Maybe the way I talk to my 26:16 wife or the way, you know, I I I speak to my children or the way I speak to my brother. We're more concerned about what these strangers think than what the people at home think. And those of you that are married, how do you talk to 26:28 your wife? How do you treat your wife is the test. But it's funny. we go out in public or even just coming to church, you know, like I'm more careful here because I'm worried about what you guys think more than that than maybe what 26:42 Amber thinks. But the test if I'm growing above brotherly kindness, she will know because it starts at home. I believe that and I've seen that. Like I'm not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I hope that in 25 years 26:57 of of walking with the Lord that I've become more kind in my marriage. And if I haven't, then I'm missing something. Because I see that Paul that Paul is saying, listen, God wants to work in you. So that brother brotherly kindness 27:11 is a thing that it's a reality that it's real in you and to some degree he has worked. But I want to keep going and even beyond that to love. Okay. The second place. So it begins at home, but you also spend a lot of time at work. 27:27 And if we went and interviewed your co-workers and said,"Hey, is Josh kind?" What would the reaction be? And again, it's not the goal is not to please people so that you can get them to say the truth. It's just a a a real 27:43 measurement, a marrow measurement of where I really am. Not where I think I am, but where I really am. When we get in the workplace and it's stressful and there's money on the table and I'm competing with everybody in the office 27:55 and only one person can be promoted or one person can get a raise, is my testimony still unkind? Is that my testimony? I heard a great story. I asked permission to share this story. It's not my story and it's not somebody in this church, but I heard 28:11 this story one time from the from a husband. He told me this and it impressed me. It impresses me to this day and I hope you understand why I'm telling you this story. He said that he had a very difficult boss. It was a 28:24 female boss. He worked in IT. Anybody work in IT? Okay. He worked in IT. I didn't I didn't give you time to raise your hands. He worked in IT and had a very difficult boss, female boss. And he would, you know, talk to his wife about 28:38 it. You know, he would tell all the problems. And his wife started praying. started praying like what can I do to help my husband or Lord what can you do I don't know exactly what her prayers was but that was an important part in 28:51 fact I I fact checked that part I said is it true that you didn't know what to do so you prayed and she said yes said okay that's an important part so sometimes we don't even know what kind thing to do so she was asking the Lord what do I do give me 29:09 an opportunity or give him an opportunity I think more she wasn't even focused on herself cuz she's out at the office, but she knew enough to bring the problem to her heavenly father repeatedly and say, "My husband is struggling at work. He's spending so 29:24 much of his day with this boss that's very difficult. Will you help my husband?" And the and and our father gave her an answer. It was her birthday and she said, "That's it." And she made a cake for the boss's birthday. And she 29:43 gave it to her husband. She said, "Take this to your boss and tell her I said happy birthday." And guess what happened? Do you guys know what happened? You know how the story ends? It worked. It worked. It it it the tension in the 30:00 relationship was gone. One act of kindness and suddenly the guy's work changed. His whole work changed because his wife baked a cake for the boss. Amazing. Now the the solution is not to go out and bake a cake for everybody that gives 30:16 you trouble, right? What's the solution from the story? Where do you get the kindness? You ask. You pray. Lord, I can't just come up with some kind thing to do to somebody. Tell me what to do. So your solution may not be to break a cake for 30:35 somebody, but it might be to go to the Lord and say like, Lord, there's a tension here. There's a tension. Give me what what kindness can I show? What what can I do? And it may be something very little, brothers and sisters. It may be 30:50 something bigger. But you go to your heavenly father and say, "How do I bridge this tension?" And there's a wonderful biatitude. It says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." A son is somebody that has pressed onto 31:05 maturity. And for a peacemaker, they have the tool of kindness always with them. Kindness is a way they made peace. And this is how a wife made peace for her husband at work. I love the story. I love the wisdom of the wife or the lack 31:20 of wisdom in the wife. She didn't even know what to do. So she said, "I'm going to go pray about it. I'm going to go ask for help." And the Lord gave her an act of kindness to solve the problem. Amazing story. I love it. I want it. 31:33 Lord, in every tension area in my life, Lord, give me that act of kindness that I need to execute so that we can have so that the tension can go away and we can have peace again. Even here, I use this uh illustration. Somebody cuts you off in traffic. Other 31:50 drivers when I'm driving, irritate me. Now, right or wrong, it happens, you know. And I was thinking about this like it's not that I want to get irritated at other people. It just it happens. And I don't know that it's entirely wrong. You 32:05 know, when I see somebody that does something, cuts me off or something because they're not paying attention because they're on their phone. I'm not entirely wrong. They shouldn't be on their phone. Like, they're going to kill 32:16 somebody. Maybe not even me. Or if I see a drunk driver or if I see somebody just doing something stupid, that irritation builds in me. My my thirst my first thought is not I want to be kind to them. It's like I want to see who that is. 32:34 Like I'll sometimes speed up and try to look at them. Give them a stink eye. That's what they need. That's what everybody in the world needs. They just need a good stink eye from me. It'll solve all the problems. Who needs one? 32:46 That's what I'm just honest. That's what I do. I don't know why I need to see their face, but it's like they did something stupid driving. I need to go see who this is. They need to look me in the eye. That's my nature. 33:00 But remember, we want a different nature, don't we? We want to partake of a divine nature. And we see that in the divine nature, there's kindness. Now, go to Jesus as my example. You know which one I'm going to pick. You might might not know. I hope you're 33:17 thinking of a lot of things with Jesus. I hope you know so much about Jesus. You're like, man, there's so many good examples with our Lord, our forerunner. This is the one that I thought of. Judas, do you ever notice that word that he 33:33 begins the statement with? Is that not kind that your betrayer? Remember, this is going to start the sequence. What Judas does starts the whole secret sequence of crucifixion of mocking the the crown of thorns, the 33:52 whipping across the back, the nails. Judas starts all that and Jesus knew it. What impresses me is it didn't build inside of him, right? Like when I see Judas, I'm going to tell him what I think of his betrayal. And it's serious. And Jesus 34:11 made it very clear. Woe to this the one who betrays him. It was a serious very serious thing. Just like drunken driving is a serious thing. So it's not that he diminished what he did, but notice it didn't build inside of him. 34:27 He still calls Judas friend. Says, "Do what you came to do. I want that nature." It's not that I'm going to justify everybody that does harm to me or does something wrong or sins. It's not that. It's I'm not going to let it build inside of me. It's I'm 34:44 not going to let it stop my kindness. Brothers and sisters, I don't have this nature naturally and my flesh dwells no good thing. But Jesus has it. and I want to be like him. And so I see that in the areas of of home and of work and even with my 35:03 enemies or people that don't love me as much as I love them hopefully that I still no bitterness builds up that even if I know it's coming, I'm not prepared for an argument, not prepared for a fight. I'm just prepared to do 35:19 something kind. That's what I want and that's what I want him to teach me. So, if we could sum it all up in a commandment. Now, I put this here. You guys know this verse, but I want you to keep thinking. Did you already forget 35:32 Romans 2:4? It's got the word lightly in it. And it's got one word in there twice. What word? Kindness. Right? Do you think lightly of the tolerance and or kindness, tolerance, and patience of God, knowing that his kindness led you 35:49 to repentance? So, when you think about that, look at the command in Ephesians 4. This is a commandment to be kind is a commandment. It's not even a commandment to do kind things to people. It's not a command to show kindness. It's a command to be kind. 36:08 Like let your nature let that be the very thing that you are. Well, how do I do that? How do I how does my heart become tender? I find sometimes a hard heart towards certain people. Lord, how does it become tender? And this verse tells us it's the same 36:25 thing we heard in Romans 2:4, right? Your hardness is coming because Josh, you forgot or you took lightly how kind God has been to you. That's your problem. You're right. That is my problem. Very often, that's my problem. 36:45 That's where the irritation comes from. That's where the lack of kindness comes from. is that how quickly I forgot how wonderful how wonderfully kind my God was to me. Brothers and sisters, it I'll tear up if I think too much about it 36:58 right now. He was kind to a sinner. That's why that's why I came to repentance. That's why the Lord started working in my life. That's why he started showing me things. It all started because he was kind. But somehow in certain moments, I forget that. 37:17 And so I lack kindness. I lack a tender heart. And this verse is telling it. Remember Ephesians, if you remember Ephesians, you have three chapters where it's all about really what God did. There's not really commandments in 37:29 there. But then after when you get to 4-6, you have the commandments. And this is really in the first chapter after that. This is one of those commandments. It's actually the last verse in that chapter. Be kind. You're commanded to do 37:40 that. Well, how do I do that? You need to go back and read the first three chapters of Ephesians before you come to this commandment. Consider everything that God has done for you. Your very salvation initiated with his 37:54 kindness. But you forgot, didn't you? And now you're judgmental to that person, aren't you? And now you're looking down at that person, aren't you? You're not even kindness isn't even on your radar, Josh, is it? No, sir. 38:09 So maybe I'm being disciplined in that. He says, "Listen, I don't want you to ever forget what I did for you on that cross. I don't want you to ever forget the way I led you in life to a point where you would receive salvation from me. I did that because I 38:26 love you and I was kind to you. You're right. Now, where were we? My attitude's fixed. My motive is fixed. Show me kindness. Now I'm ready." But notice it goes back to him and focusing on him and fixing our eyes on Jesus and 38:41 paying attention to him. That's what I lacked. That's what I lack sometimes. It's him. Last verse. I just I just like this verse. I like this concept. It's actually in there several It's actually in there several 38:58 times in the Bible. I picked Psalm 63:3. And it it can't just use the word kindness. It's like the Bible scholars said like, "How do we translate this word?" Like, translate kindness. Yeah, but that's not it. There's it's got to 39:11 be more to it. I got to there's something else when we talk about God's kindness that something else needs to be added to it. Well, how about loving kindness? Okay, that's better. Let's translate it loving kindness, right? When you talk about God's 39:24 kindness, it's so interwoven with love that you can't separate it. His kindness is loving kindness. And look at what this verse says. It says because it's better than life. Like what's the most precious thing a person can have? It's not gold. It's not 39:42 Bitcoin. It's not an education. It's not a job. It's life. The fact that you're alive because none of that matters if you're not if you're not alive. And this psalmist has concluded that the loving kindness of the Lord is better 39:59 than life itself. And so, how will I know if I have revelation on that? If I have lied on that, the loving kindness of the Lord is so wonderful. It's better than my life. I'll I'll give up my life far before I'll give up that loving kindness. 40:16 I hope I believe that. But how will I know? Well, it tells the response. It'll be on my lips. Didn't we sing that? I think we sang that in Psalm 34. That his praise will will be on our lips forever. We'll magnify the Lord. We'll exalt him 40:35 forever. It'll be on our lips. That's how we'll know if we have light on his loving kindness. It'll be on our We'll love to sing. Can't wait to sing. We want to praise. Just give me an opportunity. Again, I'm not saying I'm 40:52 there, but that's what I see. If I really have light on how kind he was, it will affect my tongue and what I say and what I carry on it and who I praise and what I praise and what I talk about. All right, let's summarize. So, I started 41:08 with an my early one of my earliest memories of getting roped and dragged and given a stick of gum. And I explained to you that that kindness, you know, made everything okay. Even as bad as it was, one little bit of kindness. 41:22 And I don't want to forget that because I want to remember like these kindness, these little kindnesses are important to some people. It was important to me. And so, but at the same time, I want to look at God and what he thinks of 41:33 kindness and I want his kindness and I want his nature. And I see that in Romans when when that when that book starts out, we have, you know, two things. In chapter one, we see clearly what the problem of humanity is. Is that 41:46 they quit honoring and worshiping God and quit giving him thanks. And suddenly there's just a sharp decline into sin, grosser and grosser sin and idolatry, worshiping the creature rather than the creator. But you come into chapter two 42:01 and it's like the it's like God's pointing at you. Quit jud quit looking at everybody around you. I'm talking to you. You're the one that doesn't honor me. You're the one that's not giving me thanks. You're the one that's, you know, 42:13 in your in your thought life, in your in your heart. You're the one that's doing that. I'm just telling you the problem. you quit honoring me. You quit looking at me. And so, it's a wonderful couple of chapters. And I said, in the middle 42:25 of those two chapters, we have this verse. And I told you, if you forget everything else, carry this verse with you. Don't think lightly of his kindness, tolerance, and patience. And don't ever ever forget that because he 42:41 was kind, it led you to repentance. And it calls it riches. These things are are valuable to you. His kindness, tolerance, and patience are riches. They're better than silver, gold, and bitcoin or whatever. They're more precious to you. And then we looked 42:58 at Galatians 5:22, the fruits of the spirit. And we said that kindness is a spirit that the holy is a is a attribute that the Holy Spirit produces in us. And so I don't want just a false kindness where I do some things and gain a 43:11 reputation for being kind. I want it to be my nature. I want it to be uh what I get when I have fellowship with him. a, you know, a a flowing out of me from my innermost being. I want kindness to flow because it's so natural to me. Now, then 43:25 we looked at second Peter and we looked at the progression. I suggested, hey, if I put these in a box, shake them all up, give them to you, ask you to put them in order, you might not get the order right. I suggested that because I was 43:35 honest and said I wouldn't have. But when I go look at the scripture, I see that the Lord is wanting to take me up to a level and to get me to a place of brotherly kindness. And then kindness to my enemies enemies is probably in love. 43:48 But I got to start with those close to me. And I suggested maybe you should ask those closest to you. What do you think of my am I kind? Is there kindness about me? You can ask. You'll get some good feedback. Don't worry about the answer. 44:02 In fact, if it's a horrible answer, if you hear never, just say, "Lord, you got to f you got to clean slate, right? I'm never kind. Let's start today." So don't worry about the answer, but it's a good it's a good test. Then 44:16 we looked at Ephesians where we saw the commandment to be kind, right? Tenderhearted, to have a tender heart and to be honest if you don't. Let the Lord work in you and look at him and what he did and keep going back seeing what God did, what God 44:30 did, what God did, what God did, and let that soften your heart and take out the hard pieces, focusing on him. And then finally I suggested you know that his loving kindness according to the psalmist is better than my life. 44:44 According to the psalmist he would have rather died than lost God's loving kindness. And he said the result of it the result of that awareness of his loving kindness will just be praised from my lips. It will naturally flow. I will naturally 44:56 sing. I will naturally respond if I have full light on how truly loving and kind he is. And I believe that that's all I have brothers and sisters. Um, thank thank you for listening. I pray that uh each of us will become more kind and 45:12 partake of his nature going forward. Thank you. If you turn to second Peter 1. 45:46 In second Peter 1, we get the list of things that we can add on top of each other. And what stood out to me is that um 46:09 in in 1 Peter uh I'm sorry 2 Peter 1 verse 5 he says apply diligence. So starting off I I I thought I was like okay. So we read through all of these and then we get to the very end in 46:29 second Peter 1 verse7 we end up with love. So it's like this it's bookended with being diligent in love toward our brothers and sisters starting at home. Me starting with my 46:48 wife being kind to my wife. I haven't asked the question yet, so I don't know what to say what the answer is going to be. Uh but um being at at home and asking your wife or or or your husband, you know, am I kind? 47:05 Okay. uh at at work. I'm hoping that I I put this into into I I I work hard at being diligent and loving so this loving kindness will come out toward my co-workers. I'm 47:23 thankful I'm so thankful to have a brother as a boss. It it's for me it's it's a safeguard to be able to have a brother in Christ as a boss and it helps me grow in this way and [clears throat] 47:43 we get to pray for each other. Even though my boss is a brother, he also sends me prayer requests and I send prayer requests to him and this helps us uh en encourage one another. So, I really appreciate that story about the 48:00 sister who prayed for her husband and the Lord showed her, you know, how to be kind. I would love to have that inside of my heart. The the command in Ephesians 4:32, I think I missed that. I'll be honest. I I 48:18 can't say that I've read that and was diligent in paying attention to it. Now I have a command and I really appreciate that. So I have to pay attention to that. Now that word loving kindness, how many times can anybody venture to guess how 48:38 many times the word loving kindness shows up in the NASB 1995 version? Any guess? One guess. Somebody. How many? Joel. 26. Close. 175 times. 175 times 48:58 God's loving kindness comes out and it's expressed to us. So, should we not pay attention to it? I just looked it up just a second ago and realized I don't know if I've been loving and kind 175 times. Not that I'm trying to keep 49:17 track of it, but is that in my heart? I want that to be I want that to be out on the highway because I know what I'm like um in traffic. I know what I'm like in other areas. And so I want this to come out in my heart. And if it does, if this 49:35 loving if this comes out, you know, then it can change the tone, not just the tone between me and another person, but it can change the tone in my heart. And I know the Lord's heart had or Jesus' heart had loving kindness in it. So if I 49:54 want a heart of Jesus, then I have to take on that loving kindness. Work hard at that loving kindness. It's such a wonderful um example for us to have and I hope that that's something that we would pray for. Pray for your husband. 50:12 Pray for your wife. Pray for your brother and sister that they will have loving kindness stored up within them. Build that up within them. Let's pray. Father God, thank you so much for uh this message today. Help us to take this 50:29 on into our hearts. Fill our hearts with loving kindness. We know that comes from you, Lord. Thank you so much. be with us today as we fellowship with one another uh and talk about your word and how it has affected us. We praise you in Jesus 50:44 name. Amen. Thank you all for being with us today. For you those of you on Zoom, thank you for joining. Um, we hope to get to see you
